The Lesser
by kibou7587
Summary: Kagome thought she was safe, she just escaped Naraku and was now back with her friends. Safe. She heard a sword being drawn and turned with disbelieving eyes. “I’m sorry, Kagome,” remorse filling her friend’s brown eyes, “but you have to die.”
1. Prologue

yeah not really sure how this story is gonna turn out. hope its good.

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine.

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The Weapon and the Sheath by Kibou7587

Prologue

This wasn't right. Everything was the same, but so different.

Naraku stood, surrounded by demons, Kagura in the forefront controlling the corpses of the dead. Saimyosho hovered all throughout the battlefield rendering Miroku's kazaana useless. Demons stood at the ready to bombard Inuyasha, Sango, and Kagome (and Shippo with her). Kouga and Sesshoumaru were there as well ready to tear apart the spider hanyou and anything that stood in their way.

The stances were typical, the circumstances were not. Naraku had sought them out. He had tracked Inuyasha and his companions. Everyone was in their customary battle stance, but no one knew what to expect. This was undoubtedly new. Typically Naraku ran and Inuyasha pursued. No one really knew what to do when their roles became reversed.

Naraku relaxed his battle stance. Inuyasha tensed his further. "Do you know what the one thing stronger than the Shikon Jewel is?" he asked, dark eyes taunting them with a question only he knew the answer to. Slowly he strolled to the front lines—this was also new. He usually stayed hidden behind his minions.

He was up to something, this much everyone knew. Unfortunately, no one knew what he was up to.

"What are you playing at, Naraku?" Inuyasha roared, growing impatient and uneasy with each passing second of the stand-off. He hated this part, the waiting—the long stupid speeches before the battle. He wanted to fight—he knew how to fight, he was good at it. He didn't know what to do when his prey stopped running away from him and ran toward him.

Continuing as though never interrupted, Naraku stopped his saunter to stare down the group of fighters. "The one thing stronger than the Shikon Jewel," he spoke, shifting his gaze to Kagome, deadly intent clear in his eyes, "is that which is able to contain it!"

And he dove.

And all hell broke loose.

Forces collided and all at once everyone converged around Kagome—some to attack, some to protect. And then the ball of confusion suddenly exploded. Demons flew all around and Sango and Miroku immediately set about disposing of them.

Inuyasha stood between Kagome and Naraku, Koga at her back, Sesshoumaru at Naraku's back.

"What the hell are you _talking_ about, you bastard?" Inuyasha didn't understand what Naraku wanted. Not true, he knew Naraku wanted Kagome, what he didn't fully understand was _why_.

"Poor Inuyasha," the spider hanyou taunted, "always so slow on the draw."

Inuyasha growled and tensed to attack. "Don't Inuyasha!" Kagome finally spoke from behind him, "It's not really him. He doesn't have any Jewel shards."

Once she said that Naraku was speared through the chest with Sesshoumaru's arm. "Little miko," the disintegrating doll spoke, "Smart and powerful. I will have you. Then I shall truly be unstoppable…"

After the false Naraku crumbled, Kagura fled, and the remaining demons were easily slain. No one left the battlefield. They had won, but it was hardly anything to celebrate. Naraku hadn't tried to win. And no one understood what he had planned.

"Everyone alright?" Inuyasha spoke, Tetsusaiga still drawn in case any demons lingered or came back for more. He did a quick scan of his comrades, no one sustained any severe injuries. Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Kouga gathered around Kagome, in an unconscious move to protect her from any impending danger.

Finally deciding they were safe Inuyasha de-transformed Tetsusaiga and sheathed it. As the hilt guard hit the sheath Kagome sucked in a sharp breath. All eyes were instantly on her, even Sesshoumaru's, although he looked from beyond the cluster of friends.

"'That which is able to contain it,'" she gasped out, with a dry laugh. Her companions eyed her uneasily.

"What is it, Kagome-san?" Miroku asked carefully. "What are you thinking?"

"What is the purpose of a sheath?" she asked no one in particular.

"To hold a sword," Inuyasha answered immediately. "So what?"

"No," Kagome said, in the same hopelessly enlightened tone, "not just to hold a sword. What was So'unga's sheath for?"

This time Sango spoke, "To contain its power."

"In order to contain its power, the sheath must be what?" Kagome finally looked up into Miroku's eyes. He had gone silent and still. He understood.

"The sheath must be stronger than that which it contains." Kagome looked down again. Miroku turned to Inuyasha and everyone else in turn, "Naraku wants Kagome because she is the Jewel's vessel. She is more powerful than it because she can contain it. He wants that power."

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interesting? comments? please review!

it _will _get more interesting! i promise!!


	2. Chapter 1

It always amazes me how great your guys' reviews make me feel

It always amazes me how great your guys' reviews make me feel!! And I'm sorry, I know it was a short chapter, but I just had to get it down and posted so I wouldn't back out of writing it.

Things seem to be going good for me, which hopefully means more writing for you guys!!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine.

Thanks for reading, please enjoy!

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The Lesser by Kibou7587

Chapter 1

_Shit_, she thought continually. _Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT!! _

Inside Kagome was panicking, but she couldn't let herself fall apart yet. She had to be strong. Everyone else is a battle-weathered warrior. The least she could do was help keep everyone else (and their tempers) in check in the face of this new problem.

"We really should have seen this coming."

"Thank you, Captain Aggravate-the-Fucking-Situation-Further."

"Inuyasha, calm down. Miroku's right. We should have figured Naraku would be demented enough to think about my connection as the Jewel's host. Of course he would want that kind of power."

Seven pairs of eyes stared intensely into the fire—Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and Kouga. Sesshoumaru, surprisingly had stayed close, although he remained beyond the glow of the fire, he could easily hear and see everything going on in their camp.

No one had the heart to look to their comrades at the moment, each foreseeing the moment their companions and themselves would fall in battle. So they continued to stare into the fire.

The rest of the night proceeded in silence. The group disbanded around the fire. Kagome set about cleaning the dinner they had all shared (even Sesshoumaru took a bowl of instant ramen out of courtesy), Sango moved to sharpen Hiraikotsu, Inuyasha and Koga discussed watch, while Miroku put up sutras for extra protection.

Shippo had long since fallen asleep on Kirara, for that Kagome was grateful. It really was unfair that this kind of danger be put upon him. Even as a demon-child, Kagome felt it was her duty to protect Shippo from harm but it seemed that she was only good for attracting harm.

Everyone moved silently and steadily, as though in a trance. Each person was lost in their own thought, or trying to piece together Naraku's plans, anticipating what he would do to get Kagome—what he would even _do_ with if he got to her.

The fighters slept fitfully that night, if at all.

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"You are no longer an asset," Sesshoumaru spoke after the group's most recent encounter with Naraku. Their roles had become reversed—now Naraku pursued and they all fled.

"I know that," the addressed miko admitted.

Three attacks in on week. She could tell her friends were being worn down. The battles all followed a common course: enter Naraku to state his intent to get Kagome's power, Kagura and his demon horde's attack, Inuyasha and company fight them off, destroy the Naraku puppet and live to see another day.

They had been winning, but with each passing battle Kagome took stock of the fewer demons felled, the more injuries sustained, the falling morale, and rising despair. They hadn't even come across any Jewel Shards. Kagome only had 4 and no way of knowing how many their enemy held.

They were fighting a losing battle, and each day made that all the more clearer.

"You endanger your comrades the longer Naraku pursues you."

"I know," she forced out again. She fought as hard as she could alongside her companions, but still it was clear in battle that they were her protectors and not her fellow-fighters.

"They return from battles more scathed than in battles past."

"I…know," Kagome closed her eyes in shame as her voice rose an octave. Each injury to her friends was an injury to Kagome's heart and soul. She mourned for every drop of blood they shed for her sake. And it was all for her sake. As the Shikon Miko, any misery caused in relation to the Jewel was her responsibility to bear.

"We have faced worse, Sesshoumaru-sama," Miroku spoke up in hopes of reassuring the demon lord and soothing his friend, "We all fight willingly to protect, Kagome-san."

Several pairs of weary eyes looked up and nodded, their purpose for fighting again made clear. Their resolve renewed, if only for a moment.

"He will not stop until-"

"I know!" the girl yelled. "Whatever it is you have to say, Sesshoumaru, have no doubt that I have not thought of it—of every cost and casualty that _my friends_ face for my sake. I never asked them to. But I know they would not stop at my request. Do you think I don't know we're fighting a losing battle? Because I do! And seeing my friends, my _family,_ fight this hopeless battle does not make me the least bit content."

All eyes were on her. She had been relatively quiet for the past week. There hadn't been much need to speak. The teen had only spoken when spoken to and seldom in between. Letting out a rough breath of air she rode her anger and gave into a small bout of immaturity.

"Why are you even here? Make no mistake I'm sure we're all glad to have the assistance of the all powerful, Demon Lord of the West," ignoring the shift she saw in her peripheral vision as her comrades tensed at her insult to his title, Kagome carried on, "but what does Naraku's pursuit of _me_, have to do with _you_?"

Cold golden eyes, stared down at her. "Do not assume to hold any importance to me. Naraku is my prey. You are his. If I remain close, he will undoubtedly reveal himself again—as he has not failed to do."

"And when do you actually plan on finishing him off?" Kagome began her voice rising with each passing second. Inuyasha and Kouga had began to hiss as traces of Kagome's miko powers began to manifest themselves. "Oh Killing Perfection, Sesshoumaru-_sama_," she ended in a hiss of her own.

The world was silent for a moment. Kagome and her companions held their breaths—waiting. Sesshoumaru did not speak immediately, and when he did it was not at all what anyone had been expecting. "You are too swift to anger. I was simply stating what you already knew. You," he raised his eyes to the rest of the fighters, "will soon lose if you continue on as you do."

Her whole countenance slumping, Kagome turned to him fully so that only he could see the despair deep in her eyes; see the full weight of the Jewel, of her responsibility, and the havoc it wreaked on her soul. "What more can I do?"

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"ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!" haha sorry, that's what ran through my head as i wrote that last line. kinda corny, but ooooh well. i actually have kinda high hopes for this story.

steering the plot toward what i REALLY intend is a pleasant challenge.

keep up with the reviews! they make me wanna update more!!

-Kibou


	3. PostPrologue: For The Better

Hey there…sooo sorry I haven't written in almost a year…life has been…rather crazy. Quite the rollercoaster it's been. I've had a lot to deal with. Just started college. Had to deal with a loss of identity, then my best friend kind of just fucked me over five different ways.

But I'm back…kind of. I'm trying anyway. I miss fanfics. So here's a little taste of what this story has to do with.

Christ—the Innocent must die for the sins of the many. Too bad he never really wanted to die in the first place.

You never actually know how much you want to live until you're faced with a situation where you are forced to give it up. When people say they are ready for death or do not fear it, it is probably because they have been told they are facing an inevitability. If they were told there was a way for them to not die…at least for the time being…would they not take it? Of course they would. Anyone would. No one wants to die.

The funny thing is that no one really wants to live either. Life is hard, death is scary. What do people want? To live with the possibility of death without actually having to die…somewhat.

Even those people who say they could easily die at any moment and be happy—would they? Probably not. Death is not something someone seeks out…it is an inevitability—one more road to reach an ultimate destination. Not just a finish line—an ultimate destination.

Death…death…death. It is taboo, it is inevitable. It is scary and mysterious. It is that late night visitor. That doubt in the back of your mind. It is everything and anything that is unknown.

It is avoided at all cost. Thoughts of death consume our lives. But the funnier thing is that life never does, until that opportunity for life is threatened.

That had nothing to do with the characters but if you're smart you should know where I'm going with this…for the rest of you…just wait til I update with a new chapter _.


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